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64 stories matching laughter
- The Tacoma Land Grab: How Rich Men Tried to Steal Washington’s Senate Seat
In January 1891, Seattle’s press rallied behind incumbent Senator Watson Squire against a rival backed by Tacoma’s wealthy elite, exposing a bitter battle over whether the state would be ruled by its people or its land barons.
- The Lawmaker Who Killed His Own Railroad Bill
Rather than let opponents gut it, Representative Hoole sends his railroad and steamboat measure to an indefinite grave after a day of parliamentary jabs.
- Debs Comes to Seattle, Fresh From Jail, and Tells the Crowd How He Got Six Months
A thousand workingmen meet the Pullman strike leader at the boat landing, march him through town, and pack the Seattle theater to hear him name the real conspirators.
- The Coal Miner Who Took the Capitol: Labor's 1911 Push in Olympia
Four hundred union delegates descended on the legislature, and a soft-spoken miner made the case for workmen's compensation — while the federation set its sights on women's eight-hour work and direct legislation.
- The President’s Day: 10,000 Strong Cheer Teddy in Walla Walla
Thousands flooded the Inland Empire capital to witness Theodore Roosevelt’s arrival, turning Kirn Street into a sea of flags and applause for the man who rules the United States.
- Torchlight, Two Bands, and a Canal: Lewis County Opens the 1892 Campaign
Four hundred Centralia Republicans ride a special train into Chehalis, fill the opera house past overflowing, and cheer loudest for the Lake Washington canal.
- Seattle's Amateur Athletes Rally for the Franklin Miners
Mandolins, wrestling, slackwire and buck dancing packed the Seattle Theater to raise relief money for the families of the Franklin mine disaster — pushing the fund toward $2,000.
- A Monster Rally Against Rome: Nativists Pack the Seattle Armory
Anti-Catholic secret societies and the American Protective Association fill the Armory to protest 'papal interference' in American politics and to promise a fight at the ballot box.
- The Ball That Shook Seattle: A Night of Masks, Money, and 'Transposed Sexes'
In the damp cold of February 1877, Seattle’s elite gathered for a masquerade ball that defied social norms, featuring cross-dressing performers and a prize for the 'best sustained character'—a rare glimpse into the territory's vibrant, chaotic social life.
- The Elderberry Wine Defense: How a Contested Election Collapsed in Laughter
Populists dropped their challenge to Commissioner Nickerson, but testimony in the sheriff and coroner contests turned up sailors voting under protest and a lunch bag of elderberry wine at a Franklin polling place.
- The Suffragist in the Hall: How One Woman’s Plea Shook Washington’s Constitutional Convention
In the sweltering heat of 1878, a delegation from Seattle petitioned the territorial convention for women's voting rights. Mrs. Dunaway was invited to speak, delivering an eloquent appeal that momentarily softened the hearts of the 'sage' delegates before the vote closed.
- A Michigan Orator Packs the Armory and Rides Down the Populists
Roswell G. Horr brings the Republican gospel of protection and sound money to a standing-room crowd in Seattle — and turns the free-silver men in the hall into the evening's comedy act.
- The Engineer’s Ash-Box Ghost: A Tale of New Year’s Eve Peril
In a column dated October 1870, the Seattle Daily Intelligencer reprints a harrowing tale from an old engineer about surviving a wreck by hiding under his locomotive's ash pan during a blizzard.
- The Wig and the Wire: How a Tacoma Newspaper Owner Tried to Destroy a Judge
In the sensational Wickersham trial of 1889, prosecutor R.P. Radebaugh’s own past and his alleged conspiracy to frame Judge Wickersham for 'immorality' were laid bare in court.